Illinois Perry, Romney backers clash on Republican primary vote

In a contest that matched early Mitt Romney backers against Rick Perry supporters, Illinois’ top Republicans tonight voted to keep the party's system of directly electing presidential nominating delegates in next March’s primary instead of awarding them as a percentage of the popular vote.

Members of the Republican State Central Committee voted 58 percent to 42 percent against the proposed change. Illinois GOP Chairman Pat Brady brought up the idea as a way to help Illinois conform with a push by the Republican National Committee to have states award nominating delegates on a proportional basis.

Staying with the status quo means Republican voters in Illinois' March 20 primary will continue to directly elect 69 delegates from the state’s 18 congressional districts. (Illinois loses one congressional district next year.) Delegate candidates will have to gather at least 600 nominating signatures to appear on the ballot with their preference for president listed beside their names.

There also will continue to be a popular vote for a Republican presidential candidate, but it’s known as a “beauty contest” because the outcome has no bearing on how many delegates a candidate will receive.

The failed proposal would have awarded the delegates to each presidential candidate based on the statewide popular vote. A presidential contender would have needed to get at least 10 percent support to earn a delegate, and if a candidate got more than 50 percent of the vote, they would have won all 69 delegates.

Both supporters and opponents of the plan found some unlikely allies.

Longtime conservative activist Jack Roeser, who next month will be hosting an event for Texas governor Perry, spoke in favor of the change. So did Rep. Tom Cross, the moderate Illinois House Republican leader from Oswego, who is being courted by the Perry forces. Roeser also is encouraging Perry support from tea party advocates.

But state Treasurer Dan Rutherford of Pontiac, who will chair the Romney campaign in Illinois as he did four years ago, generated opposition to the proposal. Rutherford, who has ambitions for higher office, said forcing delegate candidates to seek petition signatures to appear on the ballot helped generate grassroots interest in the process.

“Everybody knows the (current) rules and looked at this as like trying to change the rules while you’re in the locker room getting ready for the game,” said Rutherford, who was joined in opposition by some suburban tea party activists.

The process of running for convention delegate has traditionally been a sign of how organized a Republican presidential candidate is in Illinois, and Romney benefits from Rutherford’s organization. Four years ago, Mike Huckabee was unable to field a full slate of candidates in Illinois’ congressional districts.

But Brady, the state GOP chairman, maintained the presidential candidates should be the focus of 2012, not ancillary efforts to elect nominating delegates.

Illinois Democrats also elect their national nominating delegates but under a cumbersome process in which delegates are apportioned by the popular vote in each congressional district.